NetworkManager.confNetworkManager developersNetworkManager.conf5NetworkManagerConfiguration1.2NetworkManager.confNetworkManager configuration file/etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf,
/etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/name.conf,
/usr/lib/NetworkManager/conf.d/name.conf,
/var/lib/NetworkManager/NetworkManager-intern.confDescriptionNetworkManager.conf is the configuration file for NetworkManager. It is used
to set up various aspects of NetworkManager's behavior. The
location of the main file and configuration directories may be changed
through use of the , ,
, and
argument for NetworkManager, respectively.
If a default NetworkManager.conf is
provided by your distribution's packages, you should not modify
it, since your changes may get overwritten by package
updates. Instead, you can add additional .conf
files to the /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d directory.
These will be read in order, with later files overriding earlier ones.
Packages might install further configuration snippets to /usr/lib/NetworkManager/conf.d.
This directory is parsed first, even before NetworkManager.conf.
The loading of a file /usr/lib/NetworkManager/conf.d/name.conf
can be prevented by adding a file /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/name.conf.
In this case, the file from the etc configuration shadows the file from the
system configuration directory.
NetworkManager can overwrite certain user configuration options via D-Bus or other internal
operations. In this case it writes those changes to /var/lib/NetworkManager/NetworkManager-intern.conf.
This file is not intended to be modified by the user, but it is read last and can shadow
user configuration from NetworkManager.conf.
File Format
The configuration file format is so-called key file (sort of
ini-style format). It consists of sections (groups) of
key-value pairs. Lines beginning with a '#' and blank lines are
considered comments. Sections are started by a header line
containing the section enclosed in '[' and ']', and ended
implicitly by the start of the next section or the end of the
file. Each key-value pair must be contained in a section.
For keys that take a list of devices as their value, you can
specify devices by their MAC addresses or interface names, or
"*" to specify all devices. See
below.
Minimal system settings configuration file looks like this:
[main]
plugins=keyfile
As an extension to the normal keyfile format, you can also
append a value to a previously-set list-valued key by doing:
plugins+=another-plugin
plugins-=remove-me
main sectionplugins
Lists system settings plugin names separated by ','. These
plugins are used to read and write system-wide
connections. When multiple plugins are specified, the
connections are read from all listed plugins. When writing
connections, the plugins will be asked to save the
connection in the order listed here; if the first plugin
cannot write out that connection type (or can't write out
any connections) the next plugin is tried, etc. If none of
the plugins can save the connection, an error is returned
to the user.
If NetworkManager defines a distro-specific
network-configuration plugin for your system, then that
will normally be listed here. (See below for the available
plugins.) Note that the keyfile plugin
is always appended to the end of this list (if it doesn't
already appear earlier in the list), so if there is no
distro-specific plugin for your system then you can leave
this key unset and NetworkManager will fall back to using
keyfile.
monitor-connection-filesWhether the configured settings plugin(s)
should set up file monitors and immediately pick up changes
made to connection files while NetworkManager is running. This
is disabled by default; NetworkManager will only read
the connection files at startup, and when explicitly requested
via the ReloadConnections D-Bus call. If this key is set to
'true', then NetworkManager will reload
connection files any time they changed.
Automatic reloading is not adviced because there are race conditions
involved and it depends on the way how the editor updates the file.
In some situations, NetworkManager might first delete and add the
connection anew, instead of updating the existing one. Also, NetworkManager
might pick up incomplete settings while the user is still editing the files.
auth-polkitWhether the system uses PolicyKit for authorization.
If false, all requests will be allowed. If
true, non-root requests are authorized using PolicyKit.
The default value is @NM_CONFIG_DEFAULT_AUTH_POLKIT_TEXT@.
dhcpThis key sets up what DHCP client
NetworkManager will use. Allowed values are
dhclient, dhcpcd, and
internal. The dhclient
and dhcpcd options require the indicated
clients to be installed. The internal
option uses a built-in DHCP client which is not currently as
featureful as the external clients.If this key is missing, available DHCP clients are
looked for in this order: dhclient,
dhcpcd,
internal.no-auto-defaultSpecify devices for which
NetworkManager shouldn't create default wired connection
(Auto eth0). By default, NetworkManager creates a temporary
wired connection for any Ethernet device that is managed and
doesn't have a connection configured. List a device in this
option to inhibit creating the default connection for the
device. May have the special value * to
apply to all devices.When the default wired connection is deleted or saved
to a new persistent connection by a plugin, the device is
added to a list in the file
/var/run/NetworkManager/no-auto-default.state
to prevent creating the default connection for that device
again.See for the syntax how to
specify a device.
Example:
no-auto-default=00:22:68:5c:5d:c4,00:1e:65:ff:aa:ee
no-auto-default=eth0,eth1
no-auto-default=*
ignore-carrier
Specify devices for which NetworkManager will (partially)
ignore the carrier state. Normally, for
device types that support carrier-detect, such as Ethernet
and InfiniBand, NetworkManager will only allow a
connection to be activated on the device if carrier is
present (ie, a cable is plugged in), and it will
deactivate the device if carrier drops for more than a few
seconds.
Listing a device here will allow activating connections on
that device even when it does not have carrier, provided
that the connection uses only statically-configured IP
addresses. Additionally, it will allow any active
connection (whether static or dynamic) to remain active on
the device when carrier is lost.
Note that the "carrier" property of NMDevices and device D-Bus
interfaces will still reflect the actual device state; it's just
that NetworkManager will not make use of that information.
See for the syntax how to
specify a device.
assume-ipv6ll-only
Specify devices for which NetworkManager will try to
generate a connection based on initial configuration when
the device only has an IPv6 link-local address.
See for the syntax how to
specify a device.
configure-and-quit
When set to 'true', NetworkManager quits after
performing initial network configuration but spawns small helpers
to preserve DHCP leases and IPv6 addresses. This is useful in
environments where network setup is more or less static or it is
desirable to save process time but still handle some dynamic
configurations. When this option is true,
network configuration for WiFi, WWAN, Bluetooth, ADSL, and PPPoE
interfaces cannot be preserved due to their use of external
services, and these devices will be deconfigured when NetworkManager
quits even though other interface's configuration may be preserved.
Also, to preserve DHCP addresses the 'dhcp' option
must be set to 'internal'. The default value of
the 'configure-and-quit' option is
'false', meaning that NetworkManager will continue
running after initial network configuration and continue responding
to system and hardware events, D-Bus requests, and user commands.
dnsSet the DNS (resolv.conf) processing mode.default: The default if the key is
not specified. NetworkManager will update
resolv.conf to reflect the nameservers
provided by currently active connections.dnsmasq: NetworkManager will run
dnsmasq as a local caching nameserver, using a "split DNS"
configuration if you are connected to a VPN, and then update
resolv.conf to point to the local
nameserver.unbound: NetworkManager will talk
to unbound and dnssec-triggerd, providing a "split DNS"
configuration with DNSSEC support. The /etc/resolv.conf
will be managed by dnssec-trigger daemon.none: NetworkManager will not
modify resolv.conf.rc-managerSet the resolv.conf
management mode. The default value depends on how NetworkManager
was built. Regardless of this setting, NetworkManager will
always write resolv.conf to its runtime state directory.none: NetworkManager will symlink
/etc/resolv.conf to its private
resolv.conf file in the runtime state directory.file: NetworkManager will write
/etc/resolv.conf as file.resolvconf: NetworkManager will run
resolvconf to update the DNS configuration.netconfig: NetworkManager will run
netconfig to update the DNS configuration.debugComma separated list of options to aid
debugging. This value will be combined with the environment
variable NM_DEBUG. Currently the following
values are supported:RLIMIT_CORE: set ulimit -c unlimited
to write out core dumps. Beware, that a core dump can contain
sensitive information such as passwords or configuration settings.
fatal-warnings: set g_log_set_always_fatal()
to core dump on warning messages from glib. This is equivalent
to the --g-fatal-warnings command line option.
keyfile sectionThis section contains keyfile-plugin-specific options, and
is normally only used when you are not using any other
distro-specific plugin.hostnameThis key is deprecated and has no effect
since the hostname is now stored in /etc/hostname or other
system configuration files according to build options.
pathThe location where keyfiles are read and stored.
This defaults to "@NM_CONFIG_KEYFILE_PATH_DEFAULT@".
unmanaged-devicesSet devices that should be ignored by
NetworkManager.
See for the syntax how to
specify a device.
Example:
unmanaged-devices=interface-name:em4
unmanaged-devices=mac:00:22:68:1c:59:b1;mac:00:1E:65:30:D1:C4;interface-name:eth2
ifupdown sectionThis section contains ifupdown-specific options and thus only
has effect when using the ifupdown plugin.managedIf set to true, then
interfaces listed in
/etc/network/interfaces are managed by
NetworkManager. If set to false, then
any interface listed in
/etc/network/interfaces will be ignored
by NetworkManager. Remember that NetworkManager controls the
default route, so because the interface is ignored,
NetworkManager may assign the default route to some other
interface.
The default value is false.
logging sectionThis section controls NetworkManager's logging. Any
settings here are overridden by the
and command-line options.levelThe default logging verbosity level.
One of OFF, ERR,
WARN, INFO,
DEBUG, TRACE. The ERR
level logs only critical errors. WARN logs warnings that may
reflect operation. INFO logs various informational messages that
are useful for tracking state and operations. DEBUG enables
verbose logging for debugging purposes. TRACE enables even more
verbose logging then DEBUG level. Subsequent levels also log
all messages from earlier levels; thus setting the log level
to INFO also logs error and warning messages.domainsThe following log domains are available:
PLATFORM, RFKILL, ETHER, WIFI, BT, MB, DHCP4, DHCP6, PPP,
WIFI_SCAN, IP4, IP6, AUTOIP4, DNS, VPN, SHARING, SUPPLICANT,
AGENTS, SETTINGS, SUSPEND, CORE, DEVICE, OLPC, WIMAX,
INFINIBAND, FIREWALL, ADSL, BOND, VLAN, BRIDGE, DBUS_PROPS,
TEAM, CONCHECK, DCB, DISPATCH, AUDIT.In addition, these special domains can be used: NONE,
ALL, DEFAULT, DHCP, IP.You can specify per-domain log level overrides by
adding a colon and a log level to any domain. E.g.,
"WIFI:DEBUG,WIFI_SCAN:OFF".Domain descriptions:
PLATFORM : OS (platform) operationsRFKILL : RFKill subsystem operationsETHER : Ethernet device operationsWIFI : Wi-Fi device operationsBT : Bluetooth operationsMB : Mobile broadband operationsDHCP4 : DHCP for IPv4DHCP6 : DHCP for IPv6PPP : Point-to-point protocol operationsWIFI_SCAN : Wi-Fi scanning operationsIP4 : IPv4-related operationsIP6 : IPv6-related operationsAUTOIP4 : AutoIP operationsDNS : Domain Name System related operationsVPN : Virtual Private Network connections and operationsSHARING : Connection sharingSUPPLICANT : WPA supplicant related operationsAGENTS : Secret agents operations and communicationSETTINGS : Settings/config service operationsSUSPEND : Suspend/resumeCORE : Core daemon and policy operationsDEVICE : Activation and general interface operationsOLPC : OLPC Mesh device operationsWIMAX : WiMAX device operationsINFINIBAND : InfiniBand device operationsFIREWALL : FirewallD related operationsADSL : ADSL device operationsBOND : Bonding operationsVLAN : VLAN operationsBRIDGE : Bridging operationsDBUS_PROPS : D-Bus property changesTEAM : Teaming operationsCONCHECK : Connectivity checkDCB : Data Center Bridging (DCB) operationsDISPATCH : Dispatcher scriptsAUDIT : Audit recordsNONE : when given by itself logging is disabledALL : all log domainsDEFAULT : default log domainsDHCP : shortcut for "DHCP4,DHCP6"IP : shortcut for "IP4,IP6"HW : deprecated alias for "PLATFORM"backendThe logging backend. Supported values
are "debug", "syslog",
"journal".
"debug" uses syslog and logs to standard error.
If NetworkManager is started in debug mode (--debug)
this option is ignored and "debug" is always used.
Otherwise, the default is "@NM_CONFIG_LOGGING_BACKEND_DEFAULT_TEXT@".
auditWhether the audit records are delivered to
auditd, the audit daemon. If false, audit
records will be sent only to the NetworkManager logging
system. If set to true, they will be also
sent to auditd. The default value is @NM_CONFIG_DEFAULT_LOGGING_AUDIT_TEXT@.
connection sectionSpecify default values for connections.
Example:
[connection]
ipv6.ip6-privacy=0
Supported Properties
Not all properties can be overwritten, only the following
properties are supported to have their default values configured
(see nm-settings5 for details).
A default value is only consulted if the corresponding per-connection value
explicitly allows for that.
connection.autoconnect-slavesconnection.lldpethernet.wake-on-lanipv4.dad-timeoutipv4.dhcp-timeoutIf left unspecified, the default value for
the interface type is used.ipv4.route-metricipv6.ip6-privacyIf ipv6.ip6-privacy is unset, use the content of
"/proc/sys/net/ipv6/conf/default/use_tempaddr" as last fallback.
ipv6.route-metricvpn.timeoutIf left unspecified, default value of 60 seconds is used.wifi.mac-address-randomizationIf left unspecified, MAC address randomization is disabled.wifi.powersaveIf left unspecified, the default value
"ignore" will be used.Sections
You can configure multiple connection
sections, by having different sections with a name that all start
with "connection".
Example:
[connection]
ipv6.ip6-privacy=0
connection.autoconnect-slaves=1
vpn.timeout=120
[connection-wifi-wlan0]
match-device=interface-name:wlan0
ipv4.route-metric=50
[connection-wifi-other]
match-device=type:wifi
ipv4.route-metric=55
ipv6.ip6-privacy=1
The sections within one file are considered in order of appearance, with the
exception that the [connection] section is always
considered last. In the example above, this order is [connection-wifi-wlan0],
[connection-wlan-other], and [connection].
When checking for a default configuration value, the sections are searched until
the requested value is found.
In the example above, "ipv4.route-metric" for wlan0 interface is set to 50,
and for all other Wi-Fi typed interfaces to 55. Also, Wi-Fi devices would have
IPv6 private addresses enabled by default, but other devices would have it disabled.
Note that also "wlan0" gets "ipv6.ip6-privacy=1", because although the section
"[connection-wifi-wlan0]" matches the device, it does not contain that property
and the search continues.
When having different sections in multiple files, sections from files that are read
later have higher priority. So within one file the priority of the sections is
top-to-bottom. Across multiple files later definitions take precedence.
The following properties further control how a connection section applies.
match-deviceAn optional device spec that restricts
when the section applies. See
for the possible values.
stop-matchAn optional boolean value which defaults to
no. If the section matches (based on
match-device), further sections will not be
considered even if the property in question is not present. In
the example above, if [connection-wifi-wlan0] would
have stop-match set to yes,
its ipv6.ip6-privacy value would be
unspecified.
connectivity sectionThis section controls NetworkManager's optional connectivity
checking functionality. This allows NetworkManager to detect
whether or not the system can actually access the internet or
whether it is behind a captive portal.uriThe URI of a web page to periodically
request when connectivity is being checked. This page
should return the header "X-NetworkManager-Status" with a
value of "online". Alternatively, it's body content should
be set to "NetworkManager is online". The body content
check can be controlled by the response
option. If this option is blank or missing, connectivity
checking is disabled.
intervalSpecified in seconds; controls how often
connectivity is checked when a network connection exists. If
set to 0 connectivity checking is disabled. If missing, the
default is 300 seconds.responseIf set controls what body content
NetworkManager checks for when requesting the URI for
connectivity checking. If missing, defaults to
"NetworkManager is online" global-dns sectionThis section specifies global DNS settings that override
connection-specific configuration.searches
A list of search domains to be used during hostname lookup.
options
A list of of options to be passed to the hostname resolver.
global-dns-domain sectionsSections with a name starting with the "global-dns-domain-"
prefix allow to define global DNS configuration for specific
domains. The part of section name after "global-dns-domain-"
specifies the domain name a section applies to. More specific
domains have the precedence over less specific ones and the
default domain is represented by the wildcard "*". A default
domain section is mandatory.
servers
A list of addresses of DNS servers to be used for the given domain.
options
A list of domain-specific DNS options. Not used at the moment.
.config sectionsThis is a special section that contains options which apply
to the configuration file that contains the option.
enable
Defaults to "true". If "false",
the configuration file will be skipped during loading.
Note that the main configuration file NetworkManager.conf
cannot be disabled.
# always skip loading the config file
[.config]
enable=false
You can also match against the version of NetworkManager. For example
the following are valid configurations:
# only load on version 1.0.6
[.config]
enable=nm-version:1.0.6
# load on all versions 1.0.x, but not 1.2.x
[.config]
enable=nm-version:1.0
# only load on versions >= 1.1.6. This does not match
# with version 1.2.0 or 1.4.4. Only the last digit is considered.
[.config]
enable=nm-version-min:1.1.6
# only load on versions >= 1.2. Contrary to the previous
# example, this also matches with 1.2.0, 1.2.10, 1.4.4, etc.
[.config]
enable=nm-version-min:1.2
# Match against the maximum allowed version. The example matches
# versions 1.2.0, 1.2.2, 1.2.4. Again, only the last version digit
# is allowed to be smaller. So this would not match match on 1.1.10.
[.config]
enable=nm-version-max:1.2.6
You can also match against the value of the environment variable
NM_CONFIG_ENABLE_TAG, like:
# always skip loading the file when running NetworkManager with
# environment variable "NM_CONFIG_ENABLE_TAG=TAG1"
[.config]
enable=env:TAG1
More then one match can be specified. The configuration will be
enabled if one of the predicates matches ("or"). The special prefix "except:" can
be used to negate the match. Note that if one except-predicate
matches, the entire configuration will be disabled.
In other words, a except predicate always wins over other predicates.
# enable the configuration either when the environment variable
# is present or the version is at least 1.2.0.
[.config]
enable=env:TAG2,nm-version-min:1.2
# enable the configuration for version >= 1.2.0, but disable
# it when the environment variable is set to "TAG3"
[.config]
enable=except:env:TAG3,nm-version-min:1.2
# enable the configuration on >= 1.3, >= 1.2.6, and >= 1.0.16.
# Useful if a certain feature is only present since those releases.
[.config]
enable=nm-version-min:1.3,nm-version-min:1.2.6,nm-version-min:1.0.16
Pluginskeyfile
The keyfile plugin is the generic
plugin that supports all the connection types and
capabilities that NetworkManager has. It writes files out
in an .ini-style format in
/etc/NetworkManager/system-connections.
The stored connection file may contain passwords and
private keys, so it will be made readable only to root,
and the plugin will ignore files that are readable or
writable by any user or group other than root.
This plugin is always active, and will automatically be
used to store any connections that aren't supported by any
other active plugin.
ifcfg-rh
This plugin is used on the Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise
Linux distributions to read and write configuration from
the standard
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-*
files. It currently supports reading Ethernet, Wi-Fi,
InfiniBand, VLAN, Bond, Bridge, and Team connections.
Enabling ifcfg-rh implicitly enables
ibft plugin, if it is available.
This can be disabled by adding no-ibft.
ifcfg-suse
This plugin is deprecated and its selection has no effect.
The keyfile plugin should be used
instead.
ifupdown
This plugin is used on the Debian and Ubuntu
distributions, and reads Ethernet and Wi-Fi connections
from /etc/network/interfaces.
This plugin is read-only; any connections (of any type)
added from within NetworkManager when you are using this
plugin will be saved using the keyfile
plugin instead.
ibft, no-ibft
This plugin allows to read iBFT configuration (iSCSI Boot Firmware Table).
The configuration is read using /sbin/iscsiadm. Users are expected to
configure iBFT connections via the firmware interfaces.
If ibft support is available, it is automatically enabled after
ifcfg-rh. This can be disabled by no-ibft.
You can also explicitly specify ibft to load the
plugin without ifcfg-rh or to change the plugin order.
AppendixDevice List Format
The configuration options main.no-auto-default, main.ignore-carrier,
and keyfile.unmanaged-devices select devices based on a list of matchings.
Devices can be specified using the following format:
*Matches every device.IFNAMECase sensitive match of interface name of the device. Globbing is not supported.HWADDRMatch the MAC address of the device. Globbing is not supportedinterface-name:IFNAMEinterface-name:~IFNAMECase sensitive match of interface name of the device. Simple globbing is supported with
* and ?. Ranges and escaping is not supported.interface-name:=IFNAMECase sensitive match of interface name of the device. Globbing is disabled and IFNAME
is taken literally.mac:HWADDRMatch the MAC address of the device. Globbing is not supporteds390-subchannels:HWADDRMatch the device based on the subchannel address. Globbing is not supportedtype:TYPEMatch the device type. Valid type names are as reported by "nmcli -f GENERAL.TYPE device show".
Globbing is not supported.except:SPECNegative match of a device. SPEC must be explicitly qualified with
a prefix such as interface-name:. A negative match has higher priority then the positive
matches above.SPEC[,;]SPECMultiple specs can be concatenated with commas or semicolons. The order does not matter as
matches are either inclusive or negative (except:), with negative matches having higher
priority.
Backslash is supported to escape the separators ';' and ',', and to express special
characters such as newline ('\n'), tabulator ('\t'), whitespace ('\s') and backslash ('\\'). The globbing of
interface names cannot be escaped. Whitespace is not a separator but will be trimmed between
two specs (unless escaped as '\s').
Example:
interface-name:em4
mac:00:22:68:1c:59:b1;mac:00:1E:65:30:D1:C4;interface-name:eth2
interface-name:vboxnet*,except:interface-name:vboxnet2
*,except:mac:00:22:68:1c:59:b1
See AlsoNetworkManager8,
nmcli1,
nmcli-examples5,
nm-online1,
nm-settings5,
nm-applet1,
nm-connection-editor1